


Broken City

by Kate_Reid



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Noir, F/M, Gen, Organized Crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-06-29 12:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15729105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Reid/pseuds/Kate_Reid
Summary: Coruscant City broke a long time ago.“Darth Vader” was the name that small-time crooks whispered, the name that junkies couldn’t stop stammering.  These were not the kind of people that the Coruscant City Police took seriously, and it was a ridiculous name anyway.  For several weeks, “Darth Vader” was believed to be some idiotic new urban legend.I always write to music, and I'm trying something new and sharing this story'splaylist





	Broken City

**Author's Note:**

> Rated Teen for non-graphic violence and character death. Nobody dies who doesn't die in canon.

 

Gorgeous moodboard by Lyssa!

 

Years before Kylo was born, a little-known city alderman called Anakin Skywalker had risen to prominence, under the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a respected member of the County Board of Commissioners.   The beginning of Skywalker’s tenure as an alderman had been auspicious while he was under Kenobi’s guidance. 

He was young and attractive, and was often visible in his ward, talking to his constituents and visiting local businesses.  Every quarter, he and his wife Padmé Amidala, a prominent civil rights attorney, hosted an open house where any resident of the ward was welcome to drop in for coffee and a chat.  Skywalker was well-liked and had no trouble winning reelection multiple times.

But then, a number of murders and disappearances occurred in Skywalker’s ward, including those of several children from a group home.  His constituents were terrified and began to live in fear as the incidents all went unsolved. They begged him to put pressure on the mayor, on the police.  He didn’t.

Skywalker’s response to the awful crimes had been considered lukewarm or worse.  Nevertheless, for reasons nobody understood, Skywalker’s star had continued to rise.  Many attributed it to Mayor Palpatine, in whose company he was often seen. Palpatine seemed to have replaced Kenobi as the young alderman’s mentor.

But just as soon as the questions became louder, Skywalker was killed in a plane crash.  The only other passenger was Padmé, who had been pregnant with twins. Skywalker himself had been piloting the plane.  There were no survivors. With Anakin’s demise, all doubts as to his actions melted away; his death and Padmé’s were mourned as a significant loss of youth and hope.

Months after the city had buried handsome, charismatic Anakin and intelligent, beautiful Padmé, rumors began in the underworld. The whispers spoke of a nearly all-powerful crime lord whose face no one had ever seen.

“Darth Vader” was the name that small-time crooks whispered, the name that junkies couldn’t stop stammering.  These were not the kind of people that the Coruscant City Police took seriously, and it was a ridiculous name anyway.  For several weeks, “Darth Vader” was believed to be some idiotic new urban legend. 

But the whispers grew to a shout when the reports came rolling in.  Ironically, this led to an actual drop in crime, as the longtime kingpins in the city found themselves run out of business and into court, then prison on the strength of ironclad evidence that appeared almost by magic.  

Coruscant City District Attorney Mace Windu  _ knew  _ that it was too easy to be anything good.  Nevertheless, he dutifully used the evidence dropped into his lap.  The evidence itself seemed legitimate; it was the fact that it had appeared  _ at all _ that made it suspect.  Windu prosecuted with alacrity, garnering glowing headlines.  

But he expressed his concerns privately to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was now Police Commissioner.    Kenobi took Windu seriously. Both men feared that this was merely the calm before the storm, especially when Christopher “The Count” Dooku, who had run all sorts of dirty game in the city for years, turned up dead along with several of his top henchmen.  Any survivors of Dooku’s syndicate were long gone.

By that time, the rumors of “Darth Vader” had reached Police Commissioner Kenobi’s ears.  Word on the street was that Vader had done Dooku. Clearly, there was something to this thing.

And there was something to the white-leather-jacketed legion that seemed to descend suddenly upon the city, committing petty to large crimes--brazenly dealing drugs on street corners, robbing people and businesses, running illegal gambling and car theft rings.  

Kenobi had seen video of a twitchy informant referring to the white-clad miscreants as “Vader’s stormtroopers.”

This worried both Windu and Kenobi.  Slowly but surely, it became all too evident that Darth Vader was real.  Patterns of crime in the city changed drastically, with even the stalwarts like Dooku out of the game.  Jabba’s gang was still in it, of course. The Hutts, slippery and slimy as they were, wouldn’t ever truly die out, Kenobi told Windu with a resigned sigh.  Windu agreed, and wouldn’t have put it past Jabba to have cut some sort of deal with this Vader, whoever he was.

Over many years, the District Attorney and Police Commissioner  fought pitched battles against Vader and his stormtroopers, locking up all the small-timers they could, playing hardball in the hope that they would talk or want to make a deal.  Frustratingly, though, the petty crooks either didn’t know anything or were too terrified to say anything. 

They found that Vader’s syndicate had infiltrated the prisons.  Inmates had crude, illicit tattoos of a strange black mask, a round cog-like symbol, or the simple initials “DV.”  But still, nobody had ever  _ seen _ the legendary Darth Vader.

Until District Attorney Windu  _ did _ \--seconds before he was murdered in his own driveway.

Soon after Windu’s death, Police Commissioner Kenobi retired and moved away--nobody knew where.

 

*******

 

Years after the rise of Darth Vader, things heated up suddenly when Jabba and the Hutt gang kidnapped Leia Organa, a young, charismatic city alderwoman.  All accounts of the situation were fairly sketchy, but the most reliable one said that Leia had been snatched when trying to rescue her disreputable boyfriend, who had himself been imprisoned by Jabba due to debt.  The alderwoman’s brother and a motley crew of friends had come to rescue her, and in the melee, Leia herself had gotten hold of a pistol and shot Jabba twice in the head.

In fact, when the dust had cleared, Leia was the only one who was eager to talk.  She claimed that it was Vader who’d been behind the mail bomb sent to her adoptive parents, Bail and Breha Organa.  The bomb had killed both of them and destroyed the Organa ancestral home, the stately Alderaan Manor. 

Leia’s boyfriend, Han Solo, was something else entirely.  His rap sheet said that he’d been involved in illegal street car racing and had been caught for it a few times.  Rumor had it that he’d broken a record on the infamous Kessel Avenue run. More than that, he’d used his highly customized hot rod, ludicrously titled the  _ Millennium Falcon, _ to transport some questionable goods.  This, apparently, was the root of his dispute with Jabba and the Hutts.  

Despite all their knowledge of his prior activities, when Solo spoke to the Coruscant City Police,  he was not at all cooperative and only showed flashes of humanity when he spoke of Leia, referring to her as “Princess,” and “Her Highness.”  A “princess” and a guy like him, indeed.

And then there was Luke Skywalker.  The yogi who taught the classes that the realest housewives of Coruscant City vied to get into?  Nobody knew he was Leia Organa’s twin brother. But he was, and, according to the accounting of events, had pulled some serious moves in the fight.

Luke was another tough nut to crack.  He wasn’t as candid as his sister. He wasn’t excitable or evasive like Solo.  He was just very calm. Anyone who spoke to him found his serene demeanor and robotic hand unsettling.  The hand was another thing--Luke refused to explain what had happened to his original flesh-and-blood equipment.  Background checks on Luke revealed more mysteries. He’d grown up in Tatooine, one of the more disreputable suburbs.  More questionably, he’d spent some time in Dagobah, but didn’t want to discuss that, either. In the end, they had to let him go.  

Policing in Coruscant City was, by that point, a shadow of what it had been under Commissioner Kenobi.  Kenobi’s successor, Wilhuff Tarkin, ran things very differently. Under Tarkin, Vader’s stormtroopers ran the streets with impunity.  No effort was expended to curtail their enterprise or reel in any bigger fish than those unlucky enough to have been caught red-handed. 

 

*******

 

During the summer after her abduction, Leia Organa, her brother, her boyfriend, and their friends were seen vacationing at a sunny, woodsy lake retreat called Endor.  Photographs of the group appeared frequently in the  _ Coruscant Enquirer _ .  In all the pictures, Leia was lovely in a succession of shiny bikinis, Luke managed to look monkish and severe in some sort of black robe, and Han was rakish and attractive in navy board shorts with red stripes down the outer seams.  A known associate of Solo’s, a First Nations man called only “Chewbacca” appeared in some of the pictures, along with Lando Calrissian, City Manager of the nearby town of Cloud City. Two other unknown men also seemed to be accompanying them on vacation--a short man dressed in blue and white and a taller man with a penchant for metallic gold swimming trunks.  

By and large, the citizens of Coruscant City liked seeing Alderwoman Organa enjoying herself. The young woman had been through so much in such a short time.  After the horrific murder of her parents and her abduction by the Hutt gang, the masses figured she was entitled to a bit of fun.    
  


********

  
Leia had been popular among the more subversive elements of city politics for quite some time, since she actually dared to question Mayor Palpatine in Council meetings and publicly denounced the city’s failure to contain the crime wave caused by Darth Vader.  The whispers said that she was continuing the work of her parents, the beloved former Governor Breha Organa and former Coruscant City alderman Bail Organa. It was said that Bail and Breha had helped run an underground network of opposition to Mayor Palpatine.

In one highly-charged and publicized encounter at City Police headquarters, Leia had spoken boldly of Commissioner Tarkin’s “foul stench,” describing it as a miasma that could only be dispersed when the Mayor, the Police Commissioner, and a large portion of the City Council were out of office.

She’d stopped just short of accusing the Mayor of being in cahoots with Darth Vader, but her implication spoke quite loudly.

Many privately agreed with her, as well, but kept their mouths shut.  

This was by necessity.  Nobody wanted to run afoul of the Mayor or the crime boss.  Business owners didn’t want to be harassed by stormtroopers and get hit up for protection money.  It was well-known that Palpatine wielded the power of the government like a cudgel against anyone who crossed him.  Private citizens wanted to avoid cumbersome audits of their city taxes. Ordinary people didn’t want to be stopped by the Coruscant City Police while just going about their business.

Nobody seemed to know how Palpatine kept winning reelection, but it was rumored that Coruscant City Cemetery was full of loyal Palpatine voters.  The Board of Elections was packed with tough customers in each precinct, and it wasn’t uncommon for voters to be menaced by stormtroopers on their way to the polls.  

None of this happened in the Old Alderaan neighborhood--the ward represented by Leia Organa.  It was a contentious topic. Had Leia simply paid enough people off or did enough people support her that the outcry upon an unfavorable election result would simply be untenable and drive people into the streets?

Leia Organa managed to rise above the tide of the rumors.  There were many flattering public pictures of Alderwoman Organa and her friends, because it was widely known that she didn’t discourage paparazzi as long as they were respectful.  A cynical soul might say that she used her own beauty and that of her young, attractive friends as very effective PR. The public ate up the swimsuit photos of Leia and her chief of staff, Winter.   They devoured images of roguishly handsome Han, ultra-stylish Lando, and sweet-faced Luke. Any paper or magazine that published pictures of Leia in designer dresses on nights out was guaranteed to sell like hotcakes.  Many Coruscant City women had taken Leia as a style icon and privately tried to mimic her look. 

 

*******

 

The city spent the hot, hazy summer enjoying pictures of the beautiful young alderwoman and her friends having fun.  

Because of this, it was a massive shock when the huge headlines came.  

Nobody had known that Mayor Palpatine was vacationing on his yacht on Lake Endor.   He’d clearly taken advantage of the fact that all of the photographers were trying to catch the perfect Leia Organa bikini shot.  While the newspapers tried to snap frothy, insignificant pictures of the young alderwoman enjoying a game of volleyball on the beach, Palpatine met with Police Commissioner Tarkin and the much-feared, largely-unseen Darth Vader.  

Indeed, the yacht  _ Sheev’s Star _ was a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than any outside observer could know.  

Until they did.  Luke Skywalker had somehow gotten aboard and confronted Vader himself.  Just as inconvenient truths were being exchanged regarding Luke’s parentage, Palpatine had sidled into the room, unnoticed.  

Luke had his father in a submission hold.  Vader’s mask had slipped, exposing the scarred, pale face of Anakin Skywalker.  Mayor Palpatine giggled with glee, imploring Luke to do all manner of horrible things.  A quiet conversation took place between father and son, one that Palpatine could not hear.  The end of their barely-audible discussion was drowned out by shouts of “CORUSCANT PD! FBI!  DEA! ATF!” 

_ How had they even gotten onto the damned yacht?!   _ Palpatine groaned.  Luke let Vader up from the floor.  

All three men raised their hands and submitted to the alphabet soup of law enforcement.

 

*******

 

The operation had been led by Captain Wedge Antilles, a mainstay of the Coruscant City Police who’d refused to be turfed out of the force and had remained a thorn in the side of Darth Vader’s gang, no matter how many times he’d been threatened or offered opportunities to retire early with a full pension.  

Antilles was assisted by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Tycho Celchu, who had himself been held captive by Ysanne “Iceheart” Isard in the notorious Lusankya warehouse, Isard’s base of operations as a feared underboss of Vader’s.  Isard was a striking red-haired woman who’d actually been seen in Palpatine’s company at many public events.

 

*******

 

Darth Vader died of a heart attack while riding in the back of a Coruscant City police cruiser immediately after his arrest.

Mayor Sheev Palpatine resigned in disgrace after his crimes and involvement with Darth Vader’s crime syndicate came to light.

The multi-agency raid aboard  _ Sheev’s Star _ flushed out nearly every associate of Vader’s or Palpatine’s.  And they all wanted to talk and deal and save their own wretched skins.

A few people remained in “wanted” status and slipped into obscurity after the huge bust.  

Coruscant City PD, now under the leadership of Police Commissioner Cassian Andor,  _ knew  _ they hadn’t gotten them all.

On the outskirts of Coruscant City, a former mid-level boss just bided his time.  Snoke knew that Vader’s empire could rise again, even in the absence of their leader--they simply needed the right person, the right face.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is unlike anything I've written before, so I'd love to hear what you think.
> 
> Come say hello on tumblr! @calledalaska


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